The Great Depression came early to Port Melbourne and affected Port very severely. After the 1928 Waterfront strike many waterside workers did not find work again. Port at that time was a ‘difficult, suffering place’ in the words of Frank Vincent. From late 1930, unemployment relief schemes were set up. Sustenance payments were not enough […]
Main Content
Port & South
The mask makers
From midnight on the 22nd July, wearing a mask became compulsory in metropolitan Melbourne. Ahead of the deadline, queues formed outside Darn Cheap Fabrics – a store in Port Melbourne usually only frequented by fabric, trim and haberdashery aficionados. A rush on elastic led to a national shortage. The question of the day was ‘where […]
Yarra & Bay
Finding the River
Over the time of isolation, I have spent some time near the River and become preoccupied with our relationship to our Yarra River, known to the the Woi Wurrung (Wurundjeri) and the Boon wurrung as the Birrarung, the river of mists and shadows. So I have prepared a series of walking explorations to get to […]
Docklands & Southbank
Brick Wall
Even as we’ve returned to the lockdown from which we were tentatively emerging, the finishing touches are being applied to an old part of the city made anew. Recently, the scaffolding and hoardings were removed from the Flinders St extension west of Spencer St to reveal the heritage listed retaining wall. Every brick has been […]
Webb Dock & Port of Melbourne
Big, bigger, biggest
On a bitterly cold night when the tide was high, people gathered in small groups to watch a superload leave the Port. It was during Stage 3 lock down restrictions when such an event generated more than usual interest. We were there because the departure and route of the superload had been notified on the […]
Parks & Urban Nature
Succession planting
The fatal yellow dot and formal notices appeared on the aged elms in Port Melbourne’s Railway Reserves last week announcing their imminent removal. No argument – the remaining trees in the avenue are in terminal decline. On Tuesday 28 July, the slow work of dismembering the trees, limb by limb, began. It will take a […]
History & Heritage
Brick Wall
Even as we’ve returned to the lockdown from which we were tentatively emerging, the finishing touches are being applied to an old part of the city made anew. Recently, the scaffolding and hoardings were removed from the Flinders St extension west of Spencer St to reveal the heritage listed retaining wall. Every brick has been […]
People making change
The mask makers
From midnight on the 22nd July, wearing a mask became compulsory in metropolitan Melbourne. Ahead of the deadline, queues formed outside Darn Cheap Fabrics – a store in Port Melbourne usually only frequented by fabric, trim and haberdashery aficionados. A rush on elastic led to a national shortage. The question of the day was ‘where […]